I've had a number of people that have shown interest in having an informal weekend rendezvous up at our property on Gambier Island just outside of Vancouver, Canada. I'd like to start putting it out there to see if we can have a small event over the July 4th weekend this 2010.

Venue:http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&h ... 0&t=h&z=14The property is a 5 acre parcel of oceanfront that is inside Brigade Bay which offers excellent protection for visiting watercraft. This place is RUSTIC! There is no electricity, no stores, no police, fire ambulance, roads connect to nowhere...basically its wilderness. We have a small cabin with cooking facilities, a pump well, a great big deck overlooking Howe Sound and a very effective little outhouse. The property has ocean access that can get you to the ocean in about a minute if you're ready to handle a few steep 20' sections which are not a big deal since we installed a ropehold but we're a 3 minute walk from the beach where the boats and much of the activities will take place. Docking will be at a premium being a long weekend but we do have a beach. Its rocky but again, we can make accommodations to make it happen.

The Weather:Typically sunny with highs of 75 - 80 degrees. Then of course, sometimes it pisses rain but its more often than not, the former. Winds are interesting...more often than not, we get this early morning 25 - 30 knot exhale out of the Northwest in the very early morning from about 6am - 7:30am.. This is followed by a few hours of dead calm. Then, around 11am, things begin to fill in and continue to build out of the south until they peak at about 15 knots beginning to fall at about 4pm. By 7 pm, its usually a pond out there. Not a problem since there's still a bit of daylight until about 10:30pm.

Initial thoughts:My vision sees this as more of a social outing as opposed to an all out regatta. That's not to say that racer's aren't wholeheartedly welcomed because they are. I just know that after over a thousand regattas, most of my fondest memories revolve around those that partied with afterwards! On that note, I'd like to get a bunch of 20'+ cats (lots of H21SE's?) and teams together for a weekend of informal point to point or poker run style events OR if conditions are right, an "Around Gambier Island" (15 miles) event. I prefer larger cats since its is pretty big water here and I want everyone to be safe. This would be more focused on social rather than high performance racing. We'll have a few proper chase boats for additional safety. Sail all day, big BBQ's at night, beach parties and bonfires with some guitar playing thrown in. Have everyone arrive on Friday night and Saturday morning, set up at Lions Bay and the run 4 miles across to Gambier. We're also planning to run the Zodiac across and transport camping gear and other supplies while you sail across. Then we have the on the water activities on Saturday and Sunday with everybody heading home for about noonish on Monday. The whole goal of this is a low pressure social event with some amazing sailing in a truely spectacular location thrown in.

We ask that all sailors and guests will participate in the event by performing a duty such as BBQ team, breakfast team, cleanup teams. We'll cross that bridge when we get there but I figure that 25 people would be a cool number given the rustic and intimate environment.

Hello, Just bought a Hobie 21sc. I live in Ferndale Washington(5mins north of Bellingham). Your plan sounds great. Could you PM me, I'm Very interested! Been sailing monohulls for about 4 years and hobie 16's for 1 year; lots of windsurfing and kiteboarding before that(very familiar with pacific northwest storm wind and waves). Thanks, Bill Day My e-mail is :alwayswindy@comcast.netcell phone; 360 303 5859